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Blast away pimples
It’s not just teens who suffer with the spots that spell acne. Adult women often also experience acne and the reason is basically the same – hormonal changes. In their case, this is often due to pregnancy, their periods, or starting or stopping birth-control pills.
The world-renowned US Mayo Clinic advises you can avoid or control most acne this way:
l Wash the problem areas with a gentle facewash. Masks and facial scrubs aren’t really suitable as they tend to irritate the skin, which worsens the acne.
l Ask your local clinic or pharmacy for over-the-counter acne lotion to dry excess oil and promote peeling.
l Avoid oily or greasy cosmetics such as oily sunscreens, hair-styling products and acne concealers – rather use products that are “water-based.”
l Don’t allow your braids to flop over your face, or scarves or even telephone receivers to rest on your face as this contributes to dirt building up in your pores.
l Don’t pick or squeeze the pimples, as you may cause an infection or even scarring. Rather see your doctor or clinic for treatment if your acne is serious. –
Samantha Scott
Cheers to coffee
Good news from Japan for coffee drinkers. Researchers there found it could discourage liver cancer, with those who drank two cups a day having a 48 percent lower risk and those who drank five cups a day a 76 percent lower risk.
FACT:
Heels over 3cm high on your shoes make your body tilt too far forward, causing lasting pain by changing the alignment of your knees and hips
How to pass exams
. . . You know you need to eat breakfast, but did you also know exercise improves learning, concentration and reasoning? Simply walking three times a week is enough to boost the oxygen supply to the brain that helps this
effect.
Get well, stay well with Patricia McCracken
Protect your child’s eyes
Preventing child blindness is the vital theme of Eye Awareness Week, from 11 to 15 October, when you’ll be able to take your child to a participating optometrist for a free vision screening. This will indicate whether there’s a visual problem that optometrists call refractive errors, or problems such as scarring in the eyes, cataracts or complications of diabetes, explains Charmaine du Preez of the SA Optometric Association. There’ll even be subsidies on lenses and frames for disadvantaged children with serious eye problems.
Ster-Kinekor will be hosting some vision-screenings at selected Ster-Kinekor cinemas countrywide, with learners being bussed to the venues and treated to a free movie and popcorn after testing. Ster-Kinekor will be sponsoring the glasses needed by the children.
“It’s vital to catch and treat eye diseases early in your child’s life,” says Charmaine, “because treatment becomes more difficult the older your child gets.”
Phone the SAOA on 011-805-4517 for your nearest participating optometrist or screening venue. –
Samantha Scott
FACT: FACT:
Smokers experience twice as much pain as non-smokers.
